Two-wide, continuous tabulating card strip



United States Patent Office 3,114,565 TWO-WIDE, CGNTINUGUS TABULATING CARD STRIP George E. Sornberger, Niagara Falls, N.Y., assigner to Moore Business Forms, Inc., Niagara Falls, N.Y., a

corporation of Delaware Filed Feb. 19, 1962, Ser. No. 174,216 1 Claim. (Cl. 281-5) 'This invention relates to an improved kind of continuous form stationery and, more particularly, to continuous form, two-wide, -connected tabulating cards and method for making same.

A two-wide tabulating card strip is known in the art. The prior art product, however, consists of a strip of paper, or card stock, formed by gluing a series of blanks at their overlapped edges, which blanks include side-byside break-out tabulating cards. This prior art method and the product produced thereby exhibit certain disadvantages. For example, the various glued overlapped edges of the card strip impede the movement of the strip through the machines in which it is employed. Further, the overlapped portion represents a waste of paper, or Card stock material, and glue as compared to a strip formed of a single layer of paper, or card stock, assuming that such a strip could be formed. Still further, the steps e of aiixing glue and attaching the overlapping edges constitute steps which could be eliminated assuming the strip of cards could be formed in a single operation from a continuous strip of stock in which successive cards are separated by a web having a single thickness.

In the prior a-rt method, one of these cards is broken away from the strip by means of offset perforations, or cuts, so that the small tufts of paper tiber left when the ties are broken are recessed in the card where they will not interfere with subsequent automatic machine operations. This, of course, leaves the opposite tufts in a raised position on the portions of the strip that Isurrounded the tabulating card as well as on the companion card, or stub. This results in edges on the stub which interfere with automatic machine operation, assuming the stub is also to be handled by machine.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a continuous form with side-by-side separable cards which obviates the above disadvantages.

It is another object of this invention to provide an improved method of forming a continuous strip of 'side-by side cards.

It is another object of this invention to provide a method of making a continuous strip of side-by-side cards from a continuous strip of -stoo'k without severing the strip.

It is still another object of this invention to provide a method of making a continuous strip of side-by-side cards from a pair of continuous strips of stock without severing the strips.

Brieiiy, in accordance with aspects of this invention, a continuous form with separable portions is produced from a continuous strip by making the separation between the two side-by-side cards a continuous cut for the full car-d depth. The cards are then held in position by the horizontal end strips, or webs, which are neither perforated nor cut in the center and by the uncut vertical side strips.

In accordance with other aspects of this invention, a side-by-side arrangement of tabulating cards is produced in a continuous strip by rst forming cards in opposite edges of two strips with webs between the cards of each strip. The two strips are joined together by employing adhesive strips to connect the webs of one strip to the web of the other strip. Each strip is provided with manginal strips which are perforated so that the iinished 3,114,565 Patented Dec. 17, 1963 2 side-by-side car-d strip may be fed by suitable pin wheels on the machine.

These and various other objects and features of the invention will be more clearly understood from a reading of the detailed description of the invention in conjunction with the drawing in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of one illustrative embodiment of this invention; and

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of another illustrative embodiment of this invention.

Referring now to FIGURE 1, there is depicted a continuous strip 1t) formed of side-by-side cards 12 and 14 with marginal strips 16 and 18 on opposite edges thereof. Between each side-by-side pair of cards an end strip, or web, Ztl is formed. Around three Isides of each of the side-by-side cards produced. It is to be noted that these perforations are recessed in the cards 12 and 14 so that when the webs and edge strips are removed the tufts of material remain on the webs and edge strips so that they donot interfere with the handling machine. Between the cards 12 and 14, however, a continuous cut separates the cards. These cards, of course, are held between ties in the offset perforations on the marginal end strips. An extended perforation is formed at one edge of alternate webs 2i) as indicated at 24 to provide a fold perforation for the purpose of folding the continuous strip into a pack. Pin feed perforations 2S are provided in each web. At the upper lefthand corner ofV each card 12 and L14 a triangular piece of material is cut out to leave a triangular opening 26 which provides a bevel cut 28 for aligning the card.

Referring now to FIGURE 2, there is depicted, in perspective, another illustrative embodiment of this invention. A iirst strip 30 is formed with cards such as 32 and 34 separated by webs such as 36 and 38. Advantageously, the cards 32 and 34 extend to one edge of the strip 30 so that the right-hand edges 40 and 42 of the cards 32 and 34 present smooth edges to card handling machines when they are removed from the strip. At the other edge of the strip, a pin feed margin `44 is provided which is separated from the cards by groups of elongated cuts such as 45, 4S and 50 which alternate with groups of apertures such as 52 and "54. Thus, the only connections between the feed strip 44 and the cards are the tufts between the holes of each group. A triangular wedge 56 is cut at the edge of each card to facilitate alignment of the cards after the cards are removed from the strip. Groups of perforations 58 are provided between the cards such as 32 .and 34 and the webs 36 and 38.

The second strip 60 is a mirror image'of strip 30 except for the triangular cutouts 62 and 64 in cards -66 and 68, respectively. The cards 66 and `68 are separated from the webs 76 and 72 by groups of holes such as 74 which alternate between elongated slits 76. The right-hand pin feed strip 78 is separated from the cards such as -66 and 63 by ygroups of perforations 8G which are recessed into the cards from the elongated slits 82 with which the perforations alternate. In forming the ,side-by-side card strip the 4iirst strip 30 is moved toward the edge of the `second strip 60 until the ends of webs 36 and 38 touch the ends of webs 76 and 72, respectively, and so on throughout the links of the strips. At this point in the method, narrow adhesive strips 84 are attached lto the ends of the webs to thus join the strips 3i) and `611i into a single strip with pairs of side-by-side cards such that cards 32 and 34 have their edges touching cards 66 and ed respectively, Advantageously, the adhesive strip need be only of very thin material as compared to the thickness off the cards, or the web, since the longitudinal stresses applied to the side-by-side card strips are applied to the y12 and 14 offset perforations 22 are pin feeding strips 44 and '78. These marginal feed strips 44 and 7S may be provided with perforations 86 and 3S, so that groups of the cards may be folded as a unit into a suitable box for shipment. Thus, in this novel embodiment, the adjacent edges of cards 32 and 66 are smooth because the edges define edges of the previously independently formed strips 30 and `60, respectively.

While l have shown and described two iilustrative embodiments of this invention, it is understood that the concepts thereof `could be applied to other embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of this invention.

What is claimed is:

A web of continuous form stationery of card stock formed with lines of slits and perforations outlining a longitudinal series of pairs of interior break-out tabulating cards, the cards of each pair arranged side by side and extending transversely across the web, each pair cornpletely surrounded lby side and end strips, said side strips being continuous along the web and provided with longitudinally spaced pin-feed perforations, the left-hand side strip associated with the left side of the left-hand tabular card being separated therefrom by a series of aligned cutout vertical slits but detachably connected at intervals therealong by tear perforations inset into the margin otthe tab card and disposed between adjacent slits; the righthand side strip associated with the right side of the righthand card being separated therefrom by a similar series of aligned vertical slits but joined by similar inset tear perforations between the slits, whereby straight-edge outer margins will be provided at the opposite remote ends of the pairs of cards Afor proper tabular card machining; said end strips extending across the upper and lower ends of the respective cards of the pairs, and separated therefrom by a series of slits and intervening inset tear perforations for straight-edge separation of the cards; the web itself comprising a pair of longitudinally extending halves which are substantially mirror images of each other, each including respectively the right-hand and left-hand cards of the pairs, and their adjoining side and end strips; the end strips adjacent the respective right-hand and lefthand cards of each pair having ends abutting along the center line of the web and connected together by means of a bridging element of sheet material of a thickness considerably less than that of said web, said element being of a width not greater than the end strips, overlying the abutting end portions of said end strips and adhesively secured thereto, said bridging elements being the only means connecting the two half-portions of the web, the adjoining edges of the cards of each pair being unconnected and straight 'for tabulating card machining.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,182,053 Sullivan May 9, 1916 2,010,775 Edwards Aug. 6, 1935 2,089,128 MacFarland Aug. 3, 1937 2,213,666 Burke Sept. 3, 1940 2,700,556 Holmwood Jan. 25, 1955 

